Notch receptors are transmembrane receptors that involved in a variety of important signaling pathways. Mutations in human NOTCH1 are commonly found in human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL) and it is thought that abnormalities in Notch signaling are involved in other cancers.
The Notch signaling pathway is complex. When an appropriate ligand binds to Notch a proteolytic event occurs which allows a portion of the Notch receptor called ICN to enter the cell nucleus where is interacts with CSL, a transcription factor that binds DNA, and a protein that is a member of the Mastermind-like (MAML) family. The assembled complex can active transcription of certain genes. It is known that certain fragments of MAML (e.g., within amino acids 13-74 of human MAML-1) can act to interfere with Notch activation of transcription.